Restaurant Review: Indian Buffet Palace

Slightly spicy butter chicken

Indian Buffet Palace was a complete and utter pleasant surprise. An authentic East Indian restaurant in Bayers Lake, Clayton Park??? No way!



We just happened to come across it when going to lunch at Freddie's Fantastic Fish House, which is right next door.



Just to give you some perspective, when you leave the restaurant this is the view of Empire Theatres. This place is literally right behind Jungle Jim's.



For just under $10 you can indulge in an all-you-can-eat East Indian buffet that is made fresh every day, with different items to sample every single day as well.



The restaurant is not huge but the second you walk through the door and into those warm and fabulous spices lingering in the air, you feel absolutely at home.



We walked into the restaurant to pick up a takeout menu and the woman working there insisted we sample every single item from the buffet and scoop it up with bread as we eat it. She said that it would help absorb some of the spiciness. I am kind of a wimp when it comes to "hot" food but am warming up to adding heat to my own dishes. For me, the food was spiced perfectly: more than I would usually cook with but definitely not painful. She said the heat of their food was a 6/10 which sounds right to me.



Chef Rohit Duggal even came out and set up some food shots for this impromptu visit. We sampled the Palak and Makki (spinach and corn) which was out of this world! I have no idea how it is cooked but I could have eaten a huge bowl of it, it was that delicious. We tried the Aloo (green) beans, Rajmah (kidney beans), along with the basmati rice and chicken dishes. Absolutely everything was wonderful and impressive. Chef Duggal also confirmed to me that traditional butter chicken does have a little spice in it. The sweeter and zero heat version is a North American adaptation. I knew it!


Chicken curry

We scooped up every fabulous bite quite happily. I was overwhelmed by their generosity and friendliness, which was just as heart-warming as their food. It amazes me that you could have an authentic homemade East Indian meal for under $10 in an industrial park. Next time I think I will skip Jungle Jim's and get a real meal at Indian Buffet Palace before we head out to the movies instead.

The restaurant is not fancy and the buffet is not huge but after sampling every dish that day, I would prefer a smaller fabulous buffet where every item is delicious to a monster buffet of mediocrity. Any restaurant that makes beans taste that good to this legume-a-phobe is impressive. I give this restaurant five out of five wooden spoons.